


Lancetober Prompts

by Rainbow_Transform



Series: Lancey-Lance and Blue [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Blue's trying to help, Character Death in the fourth chapter, Flashbacks, Gen, Hurt, Injury, Langst, NO DEATH, Please don't read it if it bothers you, Still don't know how to tag these, Twelve stories and I still don't know, don't, don't read it if you don't like it, seriously, thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2019-01-10 05:56:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12292719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbow_Transform/pseuds/Rainbow_Transform
Summary: Lancetober prompts from Tumblr by Wondere11e





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Late start; this is Day 7's prompt: Water
> 
> Not exactly fond of it, but I'm posing it anyway.

_ Water _ , Lance thinks. 

 

_ Water is weird _ . He’s staring at liquid dripping from his fingers. 

 

_ Why is it called water?  _ Lance squints at the liquid, before wiping it off onto his jeans.

 

_ It could have been called something else. Like ‘wet’ or ‘blue’ or ‘wooo.’ _

 

There’s a purring in his ears. Lance turns around, head tilted listening. There’s someone else in the room with him.

 

_ But it’s called water. Why?  _

 

Lance pushes himself off the wall he’d suddenly found himself against. The wall is an old friend of his, Lance remembers. Walls don’t have feelings, or judgemental looks. They don’t judge him on his problems, or diagnose him with anything and it just listens.

 

_ I don’t know. But you can call it aqua, too.  _

 

Lance shrugs before turning around to stumble away from the wall.

 

_ Can you remember that, Lancey?  _

 

Yes, Lance thinks. He remembers to aqua means water. Should he go get aqua? He doesn’t know yet. 

 

_ Water is weird, Mama. _

 

Lance turns his head slowly to the side, watching a little boy and his mother walk hand-in-hand down the street. 

 

_ Yes.  _

 

They are eating ice cream cones. Lance misses ice cream; he misses burgers and pizza and everything else Earth has brought him.

 

_ I love the water. _

 

The little boy turns to his mother, beaming a smile at her. The mother smiles right back, smile stretching, and she hugs the boy.

 

_ You’re drawn to the water. Just like your grandfather. _

 

Lance blinks. “Just like  _ abuelo _ .” He murmurs before he continues on his way. He makes it outside, and everyone is looking at him. Lance smiles at them, tightly, and Keith rolls his eyes.

 

“We’ve been waiting,” Keith says. Lance’s fingers are covered in liquid. Hunk is the first to notice. 

 

“Buddy? Something wrong?” Hunk asks, coming closer. Lance blinks at him before looking at his hands. They’re red. Oh. 

 

Red. Red it… bad, isn’t it?

 

“Yeah,” Hunk says, and tries to pry Lance’s hands away from the wound. “Red is bad, Lance.”

 

Lance makes a distressed noise before slumping against Hunk’s shoulder. With a shout, Hunk catches him and Lance passes out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancetober Day 8, Blue

There’s something sitting at the edge of the town. It’s huge but it doesn’t hurt anyone. It just stands there, waiting for something.

The women gossip about it. “They say it never leaves,” one of them say.

“I heard it hates having people near it.”

“I’ve heard it’s been there for years.”

They are all uneasy about it, giving it a wide berth. It doesn’t say anything, it doesn’t do anything. It just stands there and watches the townspeople go about their work. It’s eyes are dull, and it’s metal outer body doesn’t gleam like it used to.

* * *

 

The government came. People in helicopters, airplanes, soldiers, SWAT, everyone. They told the townspeople that the thing was just meant for an experiment and they’d all passed. They also told them that they shouldn’t talk about this to anyone ever again.

They take away the thing, and everyone sighs a bit of relief.

It is back the next day, and everyone ignores it again. “The government will come and take it away,” a  girl states with a smile. She wants to see them again. They looked cool.

Her little brother looks at her and then back to the thing. “They won’t.” He says, as if his word is law.

(They don’t come back.)

* * *

 

It’s said that the thing was once beautiful. That it shined and it’s eyes were bright. Now it wasn’t like that, and nobody knew why.

It is said that the thing once flew and could run faster than a cheetah. It just sits and lies in wait now. For what, no one knows.

They say that it once had someone with it, but he is long gone by now. They say that it’s dangerous, that it should be taken away. That it can’t stay, it’ll hurt the children.

A boy says that it should stay. “She’s just lonely,” he protests.

Nobody goes near the boy anymore.

* * *

 

It’s gone the next day. Just like that. And the boy who’d protected it was gone, too.

“Good riddance,” the townspeople say.

“He was good little bugger,” someone says, fondly.

“He was a problem-fixer,” another says.

“He was a good boy,” they all say.

Maybe they’ll find him someday.

* * *

 

There are stories about everything and everyone. But there is nothing more interesting (or mysterious) as the tale of the thing that sat outside their town, watching them, only to disappear with a child.

If they look up, some people swear they can see gleaming metal and bright eyes. They say the thing has a red thing around it’s back, and it has the color blue all over it. Others say that it looked like a lion, and yet others say it looked like a cat.

People say they can hear purring in the middle of the night. Others state they can hear a Lion roaring and a boy laughing with delight. 

But those are just stories. They are not real. 

Or are they?


	3. Sharpshooter

Lance is precise, Keith realizes one day when they’re going to a planet taken over by the Galra years earlier. 

 

Lance is the first person to get there, and is listening to Coran explain some things. “They basically worshipped Voltron; not surprising. They’d been the first to be informed of Voltron’s birth, and the first to realize the Lions could bond together.”

 

Lance interjects with “What year was that?” 

 

They all pause. “It’s been lost to time, Lance,” Allura says. Her eye twitches.

 

“What happened to the people?”

 

“The Galra enslaved them.”

 

“Why did they enslave them?”

 

“Why do you keep asking questions?”

 

Lance blinks. “I’m inter-”

 

“Stop,” Allura puts up a hand and Lance’s mouth closes. “Please, Lance. I… I cannot think about this too much.

 

Keith knows it isn’t Lance’s fault. But that doesn't mean Keith won’t be angry. Lance pries _ way _ too much. 

 

Lance is  _ too _ precise sometimes.

 

Lance has sharp eyes. Pidge notices this when they land on a planet. Lance is looking around, eyeing things as if they were enemies. Then he turns and grins at everyone.

 

“There’s a lot of things people did here,” Coran says in Pidge’s ear. “Swimming, hunting, fighting, sacrificing, weaving, farming-”

 

“Wait, what?!” Hunk says. “Go back a few?”

 

“Weaving?” 

 

“No, back further.”

 

“Swimming?”

 

“Up just a little.”

 

“Sacrificing?”

 

“That’s the one.”

 

Pidge sees Lance stiffen, immediately, eyes scanning the horizon again. “Don’t worry,” Coran says pleasantly. “The people have long since stopped sacrificing on this planet. Why, the only people who still do it are the ones who’ve tried to rebel against the Galra!”

 

“Aren’t those the people we need to see?” Lance says, reaching for his weapon.

 

“No,” Allura’s crisp voice calls from over the coms. “We aren’t here to see them.”

 

Shiro relaxes just a fraction. Allura sound honest, but they can’t see her face. 

 

“Liar,” comes a whispered voice. “She’s lying, she’s lying!” The voice jeers. “You shouldn’t lie, Princess,” the voice croons, joined by multiplies now.

 

Pidge only has a split second to look around before something shoots off to her right. She hears a shriek of something dying and looks up at Lance who’s face is unreadable. He takes her hand and yanks her upward before turning around and shooting into a shadow. Pidge hears another shriek and the other Paladins all reach for their weapons again.

 

Something creeps forward into the light, and Pidge very nearly screams. It’s ears are flat against its head and it’s prowling around them.

 

“Such a good eye for a two-legger.” It growls softly. “Able to see my brethren sitting in the dark.” It sits down, and grins. “Join us,” it says and trots off. “The Queen should be informed he is expecting guests.” One of the things suddenly tear through the undergrowth, and Lance’s gun stays pointed at it. It runs off in a different direction, and the Paladins begin moving forward.

 

Pidge notices Lance’s fidgety movements and how his eyes dart left to right. She thinks he’s looking at the things that are walking (or running) next to them. He still hasn’t lowered his rifle, though it’s now resting on his chest instead of pointed at one of the tiger-look-alikes.

 

His eyes keep darting, and Pidge’s do the same. She can’t see anything, though. She wonders how Lance does it.

 

Shiro glances upward at the things sitting next to them. It looks like a tiger, Shiro knows. He’s seen pictures of it. The only difference is the tiger couldn’t speak, nor did they have Queens that are male. 

 

“Our Queen is most excited,” the tiger says, eyes gleaming. “She’s been waiting for thousands of years!” Another one pipes up. “She’s outlived all our parents!” A cub squeaks from behind Shiro’s foot and he jumps. The cub flashes out of his sight and something else dashes into the light to grab it and jerks away. 

 

Lance’s head is tilted, eyes closed, and he’s looks like he’s listening to something. His Bayard has already been reverted back into its original form and his eyes are still closed as he walks quietly through the dense forest. 

 

He’s breathing quietly and Shiro thought he was asleep for a moment. But then he opened his eyes and grinned at Shiro. Shiro smiled back just slightly before he turns around. 

 

The tiger’s smile turns feral as he growls “The Queen loves to entertain guests.” Shiro glances at the tiger and narrows his eyes. The tiger-look-alike laughed and said it was a joke. “The Queen doesn’t hate guests, but he doesn’t love them either.” 

 

Shiro turns around again for his team, only to count three other heads. He nods and turns around again before whirling around. Lance is missing. Lance is gone. Shiro turns around again and calls out to Hunk “Where’s Lance?”

 

Hunk shrugs. “He was like this in the Garrison, too.” Shiro turns around to the tiger-thing and it sniffs the air. “He’s… mmmm… I can’t smell him.” Shiro furrows his brows and asks “How?”

 

“Because I’ve been trained,” Lance says next to Shiro. He jumps and turns around to stare at Lance. 

 

“How can you be so quiet?” Shiro asks. 

 

Lance shrugs.

 

Lance is a sharpshooter. He can be quiet or loud; precise or detail-free; and able to see things from far away. He’s not the very best, but he hits his targets and he finishes his orders. (Maybe not the way Shiro or them want, but he gets his orders done.)

 

Lance loves his Bayard, and his rifle is always just a hairbreadth away. Lance pulls away from the tiger Queen and the Queen leans closer to Lance.

 

“Aren’t you just a pretty thing?” Queen purrs, and Lance shrugs. “I am pretty.” He says. The Queen laughs, loudly, his head thrown back and everything. Lance’s fingers twitch and feels like he’s going to shoot the Queen in the face soon.

 

_ Just get past this. _ Lance thinks before placing a fake smile on his face.

 

As a sharpshooter, he needs to pretend.


	4. Emotions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is character death in this, so be warned. Also, I'm pretty dumb to just bear with all my headcannons, okay? Thanks!

“Emotions are a weakness!” The man moves quickly, and fastly. “Emotions can’t help you in battle.” The man shoves a knife through a fake soldier. “Your soldiers cannot help you in the battle; they can’t figure things out.” He shoots a gun at another cardboard soldier.  “They won’t help you, and they’re too stupid to understands anything besides simply orders.” He yanks a sword through another soldier before standing up.

 

“Remember that, Lotor.” Zarcon says flicking hair out of his eyes. A little boy, barely six years old with short-cropped hair grinned up at his father. 

 

“Emotions are weak,” Lotor says and Zarcon smiles. “Good boy,” he ruffles Lotor’s hair before turning back. “I’m going to go out with Voltron again. Be good for your guards.” Lotor nods, smiling as his father leaves.

 

When he’s out of earshot, Lotor mumbles “‘I’m going out with Voltron,’” he mocks his father. He picks up a gun and shoots a target, before dropping it. “Emotions are a weakness,” he says to himself again. 

* * *

 

_ Emotions are a weakness _ . Lotor thinks again as he stares at a familiar blue suit. The Paladin is staring at him, head tilted to the side. He looks like he is judging him, quietly. Lotor keeps his expression blank. 

 

Allura is in front of the Paladin, then. “Lotor,” she says. Her lips are pursed. Lotor tears his eyes away from the interesting boy. “Allura,” he says. She studies his face and then lifts her own hands to her hair. “You chased us,” she said. 

 

“Yes,” Lotor said. “You failed,” Allura said, glee shining just slightly out of her voice. “Perhaps,” Lotor says again. Allura hasn’t changed much; Lotor can see that. Her hair was still long, but pulled back into a bun. Her face didn’t show any wrinkles, but her eyes shone with the worry, regret, and burden of her people. Lotor wished he’d stopped his father - Zarcon wasn’t evil. Just misguided from Hagger. But Lotor had disappeared; gone away. And now his father was dead, he was the leader of the Galra; and Hagger was missing. 

 

Allura’s eyes narrowed. “Where are the Galra?” She demanded. Lotor shrugged. “Dead, gone, missing. Who knows? Since Father died, the Galra stopped staying together.” Allura snorted. “There’ve been attacks of Galra,  _ together _ ! We’re not stupid, Lotor!”

 

“Really?” He drawls, longing back in his chair. “Because you forgot me; after we’d grown up together.” Allura’s scowl deepened. “I was in a pod for years,” she snarled. Lotor shrugged. “I was in a pod, too, Allura. Maybe not like yours. But I was.”

 

The Black Paladin stepped forward, and began to steer Allura away. “Come on, Princess.” Lotor laughed as they all followed them. 

 

“Be great, Paladins!” Lotor cackled.

* * *

 

Lotor drives away the other Paladins (especially the Yellow.) The only person who came back was the Blue Paladin, eyes dark and face emotionless. Lotor eyed him as he shoved a plate of green goo into his cell. 

 

“You’re a pretty one.” Lotor says quietly. The Blue Paladin blinks for a moment, before sighing. 

 

“I guess,” the Blue Paladin says. “Everyone’s pretty here.” Then he turns around and Lotor watches. He might be useful in the future.

* * *

 

The Blue Paladin comes back the next morning, eyes lighter. “Here’s some breakfast,” he says cheerfully. Lotor takes the goo and takes a tiny bite. 

 

He sits down on the other side of the cell and Lotor follows him, warily. The Blue Paladin stops for a moment before saying “Look, I know you’re a Galra prince or something. But you don’t look like it.” Lotor shrugs. “Yes,” he says. 

 

“Why?”

 

Lotor pauses. “I… I told my father that I wouldn’t stay with the Empire after what he’d done to the Black Lion.”

 

“What’d be do?”

 

“He tried to take her quincessess.” Lotor says eventually. “He wanted to permanently bond himself with her because he wanted to live forever. I… I ran away. Took a few guards; they all died. I collected others. They’re very loyal.”

 

Lance nods. “Red’s like that with Keith, too,” he says. Lotor files away the information. Lance jumps up and walks away. “I’ll see you next time,” he calls back and Lotor feels something deep in his mind. The tugging of something he’d hidden away long ago. 

 

He pushes it away quickly.

* * *

 

The next time Lance comes, he talks with Lotor for a few minutes, and they share life stories. (Lance doesn’t reveal anything too much about him; not even where humans come from). Lotor tells Lance of how he’d had to be put into a cryo-pod for the sake of keeping his guards safe. 

 

“My father continued to run after me,” Lotor explained. “So, I put myself into a pod and slept for ten thousand years until Hagger summoned me. My guards also had gone into cryo-sleep. Very disturbing. We didn’t know anything. But we’d managed to get back into the Empire unseen.”

 

Lance nodded, eagerly leaning forward to hear more before someone called his name. Lance jumped up, smiled at Lotor (and the butterflies began). Then, he took off.

* * *

 

Lotor didn’t see Lance for weeks afterwards. The Yellow Paladin (Hunk) brought him his food, and the Black and Red Paladin (Shiro and Keith) tried to get him to speak. Lotor kept silent, kept his mouth shut, and watched. The Green Paladin (Pidge) came by and regularly took snippets of Lotor’s hair and fingernail clippings and blood.

 

(Lotor had  _ screamed _ at the last one.)

 

Sometimes, Allura joined Pidge in taking blood. Lotor would thrash, scream, threaten, but didn’t beg. “You can end this if you tell us where the Galra Empire is at,” Allura whispered into his ear once, but Lotor had spat in her face.

 

She stood, wiped the spit off, and marched away. Lotor was left with a ruthless girl who wouldn’t stop working.

* * *

 

When Lotor came to, Lance was bandaging his wounds. His brow was furrowed. “Shh,” he said. “They don’t know I’m down here.” Lance wore emotions on his face like a mask. Lotor’s fingers twitched and he lifted them up. Lance flinched. 

 

Lotor let his hand fall back down, and just stared at the bandaged wound. “It’s not the best,” Lance admits. “But Allura won’t let you into the healing pods. Said you’re Galra, so you’re okay. I don’t think so, but…” He shrugs. 

 

Lotor says nothing, just watches. Lance waits for a moment before leaving the cell, locking it behind him. 

 

Lotor watches.

* * *

 

 

He doesn’t know how long he’s been in the cell when Ezor barged into the room. Her limb on her head is writhing, angrily pushing itself out to search and destroy anything. 

 

“Lotor!” She gasps, and rushes to his side. He lets her and Acxa take him from underneath his armpits and heave him upward. “I am fine.” He says, his father’s training still drilled into him.

 

_ No emotion. _

 

_ No emotion _ .

 

He turns to Zethrid whose blade is dripping something red. He reaches out, and runs his finger along the edge, gathering the sticky still-warm liquid. He turns the corner, and find the source. There are seven dead bodies lying in pools of blood. Lotor blinks. 

 

_ No emotion. _

 

_ No emotion.  _

 

He passes Keith, Pidge, Allura, an advisor, Hunk (which was always nice to him), and then… he passes Lance.

 

_ No emotion. _

 

_ No emotion. _

 

He can’t help but glance downward. Lance’s blue eyes are clouded over and the way he is staring at Lotor makes him think he’s finally been pushed off the edge.

 

The human got him. Lotor leans heavily against his guards and laughs, hysterically. The damn human got him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Until tomorrow's prompt, my lovely readers
> 
> ^.^


End file.
